Because we found the rubber band
by La Mouette Lunaire
Summary: The aftermath of his actions has left Dr. Otto Octavius alias Doc Ock a broken man. But when reflecting on his past mistakes will he find that certain mechanical devices might actually add a whole new layer to his misery? Yes. Yes, he will.


This fiction is mainly based on Ock's movie version and my surprise at the overwhelming quantity of angsty!Ock stories on this site. Of course I couldn't help but come up with a _far more realistic_ version of his musings which I now present you proudly in the form of

**Because we found the rubber band**

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"_Are you awake?"_

Darkness. Darkness like a door closing in front of him. Like a building collapsing, like bloody claws tearing the sun out of the sky. Darkness like a tarry sea, swallowing him up, enclosing him, not letting him go.

"_Why did you have to drown the light?"_

_Collapsing sun in the sea._ The words were like a glimpse of light in the vast blackness of what already seemed to be forgotten. Like a spark painfully ripping through his consciousness. His… conscience. And with his eyelids opening to face the night, Otto Octavius had to remember.

_"Otto…"_

Remember only that the man who had once carried this name was dead. Struck down by tragedy, too weak to get up in time, yearning to pass on the pain inside him like a disease which men might strive to cure if only enough were infected. And so he had given in and embraced his new abilities to drown in a world of misery where he would not let anybody dwell in the happiness that was lost to him. Happiness. What did they ever do to deserve it?

_"Otto, I'm cold. Can I hide under your coat?"_

Or maybe it was just him who deserved to lose it. After all he- he frowned. Cold. Of course. Octavius took a deep breath and felt the cool, salty air on the tip of his tongue. It was a very cold night. Cold. How suitable for the one who would destroy and murder without the flicker of a doubt.

"_I'm bored. This place is stupid."_

Actually… there had been a flicker. One single stupid flicker, one stupid shadow of doubt back then. But it had died soon. Died with the man who held on to it, held on to his last stupid piece of stupid humanity. They had all drowned in the end. And they had left him to come back. Dr. Octopus, the image of a soulless mockery of mankind, still lying motionlessly on the beach, his gaze fixed on the place he was destined never to reach. Stupid heaven.

"_I'm hungry. I want pizza."_

In a way his fate was like a slice of pizza. So cheesy and- Octavius darted up, sitting stiff, digging his hands into the wet sand. Not his thoughts. Not. His. Thoughts. The wind blew through his hair and gave an uncomfortable reminder of reality. Accident. Snapped. Plan. Failed. Sea. Drowned. Beach. Came back. Beach. Night. So dark. So wet. So cold. So… hungry? After all he had been through, could this be the only thing on his mind? Could he actually worry about… pizza?

_"And no olives. I HATE olives." "But I like the olives!"_

"Who said that!" Octavius was on his feet now, certain that this surrealistic scrap of an argument had not just taken place in his mind. Nervously he scanned through the darkness, his eyes looking to find the source of the chatter but all they could spot was an oversized seagull, vainly displaying its white plumage in the moonlight, apparently not too pleased with tonight's guest on its property.

"_Fish would be nice though. Or… calamari."_

"So it IS you!" the scientist gasped and pointed a shaky finger at the seabird, half shuddering at his display of irrational behaviour, half expecting the animal to give him a mocking screech of 'Nevermore' as a reply. However the only reply he would actually receive was a dull stare and the tilting of the gull's head before it spread its wings and took off, presumably to spend the rest of the night in a more quiet place.

Quiet. As he watched the bird disappear on the horizon he held his breath to listen but found that whatever he'd heard before was gone now. Gone. Quiet. Two words, suddenly so very painful when he realised what they meant. What they meant to him. What it was that… why his life had become so quiet all of a sudden. Of course. Because of her. Because she was gone. His Rosie was-

"_CALAMARI? Gee, that's got to be the worst joke ever!" "Oh look who's talking, Mister Ha-ha-a-guy-walks-into-a-bar!" "Tee hee!" "That's NOT funny!" "Wait now, that was a joke? We're not getting a calamari pizza?" "I don't care as long as there's plenty of cheese." "And olives!" "NO OLIVES!" "Can't we just have a burger instead?" "Why do you-"_

"Stop it. STOP IT! JUST STOP IT AND LEAVE ME ALONE!" His eyes had widened considerably the moment the voices returned and when he found that this time their bickering went far beyond a faint statement and would not stop without his intermission his expression had changed into a haunted mask of despair. "WHERE ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU?" He felt a sore pain rising in his throat already and his voice grew thin as he dropped to his knees. "Why… why do you torture me?"

Silence. Silence, which for a moment not even the nightly breeze, not even the ocean waves dared to disturb.

And then he heard it. For the first time. For the first time here, although the sound was clearly familiar. A quiet rattling. A mechanical whirr. And then he saw it too. Saw its silver shimmer in the moonlight, its metallic claw staring into his face, the faint red glow almost like the glimpse of a demonic eye. One. Then two. The third, following hesitantly. And the fourth, snapping twice in the background as if to demand a better view.

Of course he had not forgotten about them. How could he forget about them? How could he ever when it was them who had made him what he was now? Failure. Criminal. Monster. All that, painfully burned into his flesh… just like them. Like the devices that he had once built for the good of mankind. But something wasn't right. No, of course in a way nothing had ever been. But looking at them now he couldn't help but wonder…

_"We're sorry, Otto!"_

Screaming the scientist fell back and stared at the mechanical arms in disbelief. They seemed to be staring at him too, apologetic, worried, concerned even. But how? All they had ever been was… no, they had a mind of their own in a way, but… what they said, they… in the past everything had been a mere suggestion. Something he was suspicious of at first but eventually he had come to understand them as some kind of filter. A highly complex machine, running through his mind, filtering his thoughts and eventually enhancing the ones they selected to be the best, the most efficient. "Which is why I ended up like this, cold and miserable, presumed dead and … and covered seaweed!"

Angrily he removed the slick, green strings from his clothes, angrily throwing them to the ground, wondering why he hadn't bothered about them earlier. No, of course. Earlier he was just a miserable man with four mechanical arms attached to his back. And all of a sudden he was a miserable man with four companions.

_"Are you mad at us?" "Please, don't be mad at us!" "I couldn't bear it if you hated us!" "Please say it's okay!"_

As touching as their concern might have been it didn't improve his mood in any way and the fact that one of the arms was now nudging at his ear affectionately wasn't helping either. They used to be one with his mind. They used to speak in his voice. They used to enhance his own thoughts. They never…

_"He hates us! I knew it!" "And it's all your fault! I told you to shut up! I told you to shut up and wait until he wakes up. I told you he wouldn't like to hear any of us!" "B-but I wanted pizza…" "Well, obviously he did not!" "But I was hungry!" "We DON'T EAT!" "Y-yes, but I like the concept!"_

"Erm, excuse me, but…" Weakly the scientist lifted his hand to interrupt but was far too taken aback by the arms' argument in front of him to actually manage to stop their conversation.

_"The concept. And isn't that just the perfect excuse for everything you do? Like the concept of having a gigantic sun in your living room, right?" "Oh come on, that was your idea as much as it was mine!"_

"What? But I thought that was my-"

_"And it was stupid idea! We told you it was!" "True, because I thought-" "For Heaven's sake, the man had just lost his wife and a gigantic sun in his living room was probably the last thing on his mind!" "I… I just thought it might cheer him up." "Cheer him up. I see. And I repeat: Lost. His. Wife. What did you think he'd do? Marvel at your sun and get over it? I mean, just look at him! Sure he's got the brains but he's not the youngest anymore and you've got to admit that he's not exactly the first pick of the bunch when it comes to his looks."_

"I'm still listening here!" Ock threw in, crossing his arms with the mixed expression of anger and hurt but still failing to stop the tentacles from continuing their chat.

_"Well, I think he's very handsome." "Well, you also think olives make a good…"_

At this point Otto's eyes were already firmly shut. Making the arms stop was apparently not an option and all there was left for the sake of his sanity was to black them out as best as he could and wait, hoping that their chatter would cease eventually. There was something he'd thought about before, before they had started talking. He didn't remember now. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe it was better off ignored, just like the fact that he'd apparently lived with four extra minds all the time, one of which might actually be a female for all he knew.

Thunder. A flash of lightning briefly illuminating the beach, ripping open the sky, letting thick drops of water fall down on him.

_"HA! Told you we should have brought an umbrella!" "An umbrella? And how were you going to do that? You couldn't have held on to it all the time." "Can't we just find a hotel and get a room or something?" "What about the pizza then?" "I think he's fat too." "What's that got to do with anything now?" "He's not FAT! He might be a tad bit big-boned, but-" "I think we should have-"_

"Just ignore them." He pressed his hands to his ears, hoping that somehow this would make their voices go away, while mumbling the words over and over again like a mantra that would keep him from losing his last bit of sanity. "No. Ignore them. Just ignore. Black it out. Don't listen. Don't-"

"Aw, come on! You're such a tease! Just drop your coat and let's get it on!"

His desperate mantra was suddenly broken, his eyes wide open and his face a mask of angry disbelief. He spun around, not sure if he actually wanted to turn to or away from the pesky machines. "THAT'S IT! YOU'RE INSANE! STOP IT! ALL OF- you?"

He had been too occupied of course but one should have expected them to spot the eight-limbed scientist, even in the darkness of the moonlit beach. Though judging by the look they had given each other seconds before they were probably occupied too, in their own way. Now of course all that could be seen in the faces of the couple was sheer terror, an expression not unlike to the stare of Octavius who, in a more than awkward way had to discover that some of the voices in his head were actually real and that even at night the beach wasn't all that deserted.

Seeing the women hide behind her partner in fear made him hold up his arms – the real ones, the others had luckily retreated behind his back – in defence as he tried to gather his composure to form an apology, since this would be the best he could do, an actual explanation being a task far beyond his current abilities. Luckily he was spared from either as the man spoke up, apparently trying his very best to sound brave. "W-what do you want from us?"

"No, I don't-" Octavius blurted out but quickly stopped and hesitated. The rain appeared to be getting worse and come to think about it he couldn't possibly understand how the couple had managed to keep up their romantic… and sexual desires in such place, under such conditions.

_"Can't we just find a hotel and get a room or something?"_

Remembering the sentence now he couldn't help but notice the unpleasant connotation… and nevertheless it was at least one suggestion that didn't seem to be a completely bad idea altogether. Indeed he was glad that the mechanical devices still seemed to follow his silent commands every now and then as they were now appearing next to him, snapping and hissing at the two lovers menacingly. Smirking he adjusted his coat and in his best criminally smug voice he said:

"Lend Doctor Octopus your car for a while, will you?"

**End.**

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And what a beautiful fiction that was. Makes you think, doesn't it? …no, I didn't think so either. Comments? Insults? Marriage proposals?


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